Piano-key.



F. B. LONG.

PIANO KEY.

APPLIOATION FILED DEG.1, 1909.

Patented June 4, 1912.

W/TNESSES COLUMBIA PLANDGRAP" c0" WASHINGTON. D. c.

ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES F-FIGE.

FRANK B. LONG, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

PIANO-KEY.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK B. LONG, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and-State of California, have invented a new and Improved Piano-Key, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The invention relates to pianos, organs and like key-actuated musical instruments, and its object is to provide a new and improved key, having means to render the key silent in action and to prevent the key from being unduly influenced by climatic changes, at the same time rendering the key mothproof.

For the purpose mentioned, the key is provided at the under side with cork pads for contact wit-h the pads on the front, back and center rails of the key frame, the latter being preferably of a construction such as shown and described in the application for Letters Patent of the United States, Serial No. 530,849 filed under even date herewith.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the key; and Fig. 2 is a like view of the key inverted.

The body of the key A is made of wood and is provided at the top, at the front end, with a finger piece B, and the under side of the body of the key A is provided with recesses A, A A of which the recess A is near the front end and is filled with a pad C of cork, glued or otherwise secured to the walls of the recess A; the recess A is filled with a pad D of cork, likewise glued or fastened in place; and a pad E of cork is secured in the recess A The cork pads C, D and E are flush with the under side and with the sides of the key A, and are adapted to contact with pads on the key frame, which latter is preferably of the construction shown and described in the application for Letters Patent above referred to. The front end pad C is provided with Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 1, 1909.

Patented June 4, 1912.

Serial No. 530,848.

an elongated slot G for the passage of the key guide pin, which latter extends up into an enlarged recess in the under side of the key. The center pad D is provided with an aperture D for the passage of the pivot pin on which the key A is mounted to swing, the said pivot pin also passing undisturbed through an opening in the key A and through an elongated slot or opening F formed in the key button F, made of cork and glued or otherwise secured to the top of the key A. The pivot pin is in contact with the sides of the openings in the center pad D and the key button F but not in contact with the wood of the key. A portion of the underside of the cork pads C and D and the button F is preferably detached or free of the key, which latter is, for this purpose, provided with cut out portions A A A, of which the cut-out portions A A are in the bottoms of the recesses A, A and the cut-out portion A is in the top of the key under the middle of the button F. The cutout portions intersect the openings for the pivot and guide-pins. Thus the wood of the key is free to expand or contract without affecting the cork-pads or button adjacent the pins, and hence the cork pads and button are not liable to unduly bind or become loose on the pins.

By the arrangement described, the pads C, D and E, coming in contact with parts of the key frame, render the action of the keys silent, at the same time the button F prevents noise on contact with the pivot pin when the key is actuated. By making the pads C, D and E of cork they are not unduly influenced by climatic changes and the said parts are also mothproof, and by extending the cork pads clear across the key from side to side no displacement is liable to take place on account of swelling or shrinking of the key.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A key for pianos, organs and like instru ments, provided on its under face near each end and at approximately its center with a transverse recess, a cork pad seated in each In testimony whereof I have signed my of said recesses, the outer face of the pad bename to this specification in the presence of ing flush with the lower face of the key and two subscribing witnesses. the side edges of the pads being flush with FRANK B. LONG.

5 the side edges of the key, sundry of the said recesses having intermediate their ends a transverse groove for the purpose specified.

WVitnesses:

THEO. G. Hos'rER, PHILIP D. RoLLHAUs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

